Jesse Cook Tempest (1995) [repost]

The two-CD set Impressions: The Verve Jazz Sessions salvages Wes Montgomery's straight jazz sessions for Verve, leaving the pop-oriented covers and orchestral sessions to the original albums. There are selected numbers from albums like Movin' Wes, Goin' Out of My Head and California Dreaming, illustrating that those albums were hardly worthless - each track proves that Montgomery's touch remained elegant and supremely tasteful. The second disc is devoted to the complete sessions for Smokin' at the Half Note, the legendary recording Montgomery made at Van Gelder Studios in 1965 with bassist Paul Chambers, pianist Wynton Kelly and drummer Jimmy Cobb…

Given the Beatles' fondness for covering Motown favorites like "Please Mr. Postman," "Money (That's What I Want)" and "You Really Got a Hold on Me," it was only logical that Motown stars like the Supremes, the Four Tops and Stevie Wonder would also cover the Fab Four as well, albeit to varying degrees of success…

The Mamas and the Papas blazed across the '60s folk-rock scene, scoring nine Top 40 hits in less than two years. So bright was their brief run that it earned them a berth in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This set shows at least some of the reason why–there's the era-defining hit "California Dreamin'," plus other triumphs such as "Monday, Monday," "Words of Love," "Dedicated to the One I Love," and the autobiographical "Creeque Alley".

The Lonely Boys (in Swedish, ”De ensamma pojkarna”) is a fiction book by Swedish author Mats Olsson about a young rhythm'n'pop band from the south of Sweden in 1965. Per Gessle (of Roxette fame) was asked by Mats Olsson to write a soundtrack to follow the book, and so the band "The Lonely Boys" came into existence and the debut album by this 1965 fictitious band was released in December 1995…

Perlman's Four Seasons was recorded in 1976 in London's Abbey Road Studios. This was before the period instruments craze had gotten up to full steam. Perlman and the London Philharmonic play unrepentantly on modern instruments and in a modern style, albeit not without Baroque savvy. Expansive tempos and rich, vibrato-generous sonorities make this recording a good choice for listeners who don't seek the astringencies of period performance, or who simply want to take a musical bubble bath in this repertoire.

This zippy ballet is early Beethoven–the only work of its type that he ever wrote. It dates from the same time as the First Symphony, which is around 1800, and is noteworthy in two other respects: it's the only piece of orchestral music that Beethoven ever wrote that uses a harp (I know–big deal–but from such trivia are music snobs made. Go intimidate your friends!), and he uses a tune that later becomes the main theme of the finale of the Third Symphony, and consequently the subject of the Eroica Variations for piano solo. Nikolaus Harnoncourt is great with music of this sort, investing it with uncommon urgency and making it sound suitably grand.

Known for a terrifying rendition of Otis Redding's hit "(Sittin' On The) Dock of the Bay" (among others), Michael Bolton tears up every classic soul tune he can get his hands on. Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind" and Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" take on completely new meanings in the hands of this former hard rock singer. This 17-cut retrospective includes all the songs that catapulted him to mega-stardom and plenty of others that show him as just another sincere fool for love ("I Promise You" and "I Found Someone"). Just as Meatloaf turned up the juice on the histrionics of Bruce Springsteen, Bolton takes the soul singer out of the smoky nightclub and into the hockey arena for the whole world to hear.

Eleni Karaindrou's long, fruitful partnership with Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos has given birth to several scores for his award-winning films. However, perhaps no previous Karaindrou score contains the evocative power of her compositions for Ulysses' Gaze, the film about memory, artistic quests, and war that won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.